I spent five years at Forbes writing about business and leadership, attracting nearly one million unique visitors to Forbes.com each month. While here, I assistant edited the annual World’s 100 Most Powerful Women package and helped launch and grow ForbesWoman.com. I've appeared on CBS, CNBC, MSNBC and E Entertainment and speak often at conferences and events on women's leadership topics. I graduated summa cum laude from New York University with degrees in journalism and sociology and was honored with a best in business award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) in 2012. My work has appeared in Businessweek, Ladies’ Home Journal, The Aesthete and Acura Style. I live in New York City with my husband and can be found on Twitter @Jenna_Goudreau, Facebook, and Google+.

Jobs Outlook 2012: Careers Headed For The Dustbin

After years of bad news, recent U.S. job reports suggest market stabilization. Employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2% to 8.3%.

“We are seeing several signs that the economy is on a better track,” says Gautam Godhwani, chief executive of SimplyHired.com, a job search engine with 17 million monthly users. “The recovery has momentum.”

However, as the economy reorganizes, some once-steady career paths are being outsourced, replaced or eliminated. Based on new projections by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS), we examined the 20 fastest-declining jobs through 2020. The list is dominated by agricultural, production, and administrative support occupations—adding to a growing pile of careers headed for the dustbin.

The biggest projected losers are farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers. The occupation tops the list with an expected decline of 96,100 jobs, or 8%, by 2020. In fact, the agricultural industry has been steadily eroding for years. Between 2000 and 2010, the sector (including agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting) contracted by 260,700 jobs.

“What we’re seeing now is global specialization, with the U.S. economy shifting towards services and technology,” says Godhwani. “Anything where the U.S. is not going to be the best, you’ll see the jobs leaving. We can now import food from all over the world.”

The new global economy also means that unskilled manufacturing jobs that require little to no education are also being displaced to other parts of the globe. Sewing machine operators (No. 3) are projected to decline by 42,100 jobs, or 26%. Meanwhile, electrical and electronic equipment assemblers (No. 11) will fall by 6% and prepress technicians and workers (No. 13) by 16%.

Comments

“with jobs needing a master’s degree projected to increase by 22%, a doctoral or professional degree by 20%, and associate’s degree by 18%.”

Interesting statistics… The only people I know that are working are those with little or no education.

My educated friends are all on the ropes…

If you are over 40 today you are not “educated enough” for todays “requirements” and “overqualified” for what you used to do.

With the increasing costs and time invested of all the advanced degrees and the continuous decline in pay scale for all but the politically chosen few there isn’t a real ROI on todays limited life span degrees.

Agreed. I have a MS in engineering. When I was laid off I went to get an MBA to broaden my horizons. two years later with only two interviews and my age getting closer to 40 I had to consider open my own firm. I had no choice. It bothers me that employers today cannot think outside the box to hire candidates that may not have all the experience but have a lot of intangibles to bring to the organization.